Popovich: Kawhi Was Not a Leader

[SAGirl]

Magic said D'Lo wasn't a leader (became an all star; led Nets to the playoffs).

Pop said Kiwi not a leader (regained his place as top 3 player in the world; led Raps to the Finals)

Pop and Magic should shut it tbh

True.

[bic50]

Leader or not, it still does not change the fact that #2 is still and will forever be a made pussy taking orders from uncle fester....

Salty

[rjv]

the fact that leonard has been a leader for the raptors in these playoffs doesn't mean that pop wasn't wrong when he stated that leonard wasn't a leader for us. what kind of leader stays in new york, supposedly still rehabbing, while his team is in the playoffs? pop never said that kawhi never could be a leader. just that he hadn't really been one for the spurs.

[TheGreatYacht]

the fact that leonard has been a leader for the raptors in these playoffs doesn't mean that pop wasn't wrong when he stated that leonard wasn't a leader for us. what kind of leader stays in new york, supposedly still rehabbing, while his team is in the playoffs? pop never said that kawhi never could be a leader. just that he hadn't really been one for the spurs.

0.5/10 spin

[BSfromTX]

Dude still isn’t a leader. He says a few cliches and everyone thinks he’s some great mastermind. Dude is playing great basketball. You can say he’s leading by example, but that’s it. Raptors are simply acting like the crazy girlfriend knowing she’s about to get ditched.

All he’s doing is promoting himself. He could care less about Raptors. Not something you would find in a great leader. Is he capable? Probably, but only if it’s for who he wants to play for.

[TDomination]

Dude still isn’t a leader. He says a few cliches and everyone thinks he’s some great mastermind. Dude is playing great basketball. You can say he’s leading by example, but that’s it. Raptors are simply acting like the crazy girlfriend knowing she’s about to get ditched.

All he’s doing is promoting himself. He could care less about Raptors. Not something you would find in a great leader. Is he capable? Probably, but only if it’s for who he wants to play for.

I lost a ton of respect for Kawhi after everything that happened last year.

But if he ended up staying in Toronto. A small amount of respect would come back for him from me. It shows that he can actually care about other people outside of Uncle Dennis.

At least it would be to where he finally realized that even though he's not at "home" near L.A., he's got a good situation there team-wise and would rather keep battling with his current teammates.

Now If he rings and leaves, I'm sure Toronto will still be happy for a while. A championship is a championship no matter how you slice it. That nice feeling will last a few years.
But if they lose and he leaves, well that sucks for them. So close but still so far. And the future would definitely look bleak for Toronto.

[duncan2k5]

Kawhi wasn't a leader on the Spurs because he didn't need to be...legendary vets on the team that have done it all and seen it all...those are the guys on the team you want the rooks to model after....Kawhi was the best player at that time...sure...after TD left and Manu/Parker were on their last legs...it was his turn to take the mantle and he buckled...maybe the pressure of having to live up to TD/Manu/Tp was too much...but that's neither here nor there...Kawhi and his group wanted out and they were just looking for any excuse to bail so that kawhi could build his own legacy and uncle dennis could get paid ...and I don't buy any of this crap that someone in the organization did something or said something to annoy or offend Kawhi or his group...Im sure there's worse things that go on that we never hear about...

When did Kawhi buckle? This narrative is silly... His first full year as the man was 2017...even Kawhi-hater Skip admitted that... LMA was the man the year before... It was LMA that disappeared in the last several games of the thunder series (and pop's HORRIBLE coaching by not countering OKC dominant rebounding, and instead playing David west and Boris who were getting BODIED on the boards...) Kawhi was nowhere near being the main guy VS the clippers... He was still one of the guys... And he still had a decent series... The reason they lost was once again Pop had no clue how to defend the cp3/Blake pick and roll and had Blake looking like prime Amare... And fittingly it was cp3 who hit the shot that buried us after he was dominating Tony Parker the entire series

[duncan2k5]

Dude still isn’t a leader. He says a few cliches and everyone thinks he’s some great mastermind. Dude is playing great basketball. You can say he’s leading by example, but that’s it. Raptors are simply acting like the crazy girlfriend knowing she’s about to get ditched.

All he’s doing is promoting himself. He could care less about Raptors. Not something you would find in a great leader. Is he capable? Probably, but only if it’s for who he wants to play for.

So what exactly does he have to do in ur eyes? Because clearly u don't think leading by example is leading... Nor do u think him speaking words of encouragement is leading... Lol... The guy can't win with some of u

[BSfromTX]

So what exactly does he have to do in ur eyes? Because clearly u don't think leading by example is leading... Nor do u think him speaking words of encouragement is leading... Lol... The guy can't win with some of u

Leading by example only goes so far.
Words of encouragement are not in line with his actions during the regular season.
No, he can't win with me. He has given me plenty of reasons to believe he's not a stand up guy that has genuine intentions of being true leader for the Raptors. Any leadership he's showing now is superficial IMO.


Duncan was a good leader. Vocal, hard working, diplomatic, assertive, encouraging, honest, enduring, and unselfish. Those are qualities I see missing from Kawhi. Does he work hard? Yes, but he works hard for Kawhi. I don't think he is a bad person. I really feel like he has a lot of maturing to do as well as not allow himself to be influenced by others.

You have yet to be critical of Kawhi for anything, so I'm not really sure if it is worth explaining any of this. He simply can not do any wrong in your eyes, I guess.

[rjv]

Duncan was a good leader. Vocal, hard working, diplomatic, assertive, encouraging, honest, enduring, and unselfish. Those are qualities I see missing from Kawhi. Does he work hard? Yes, but he works hard for Kawhi. I don't think he is a bad person. I really feel like he has a lot of maturing to do as well as not allow himself to be influenced by others.

[duncan2k5]

Leading by example only goes so far.
Words of encouragement are not in line with his actions during the regular season.
No, he can't win with me. He has given me plenty of reasons to believe he's not a stand up guy that has genuine intentions of being true leader for the Raptors. Any leadership he's showing now is superficial IMO.


Duncan was a good leader. Vocal, hard working, diplomatic, assertive, encouraging, honest, enduring, and unselfish. Those are qualities I see missing from Kawhi. Does he work hard? Yes, but he works hard for Kawhi. I don't think he is a bad person. I really feel like he has a lot of maturing to do as well as not allow himself to be influenced by others.

You have yet to be critical of Kawhi for anything, so I'm not really sure if it is worth explaining any of this. He simply can not do any wrong in your eyes, I guess.

Ur wrong tho... Ur just making up negative attributes about Kawhi while dismissing the positives... It's funny how we and the national media used to say tin Duncan leads by example as his leadership style, and its different from ppl like cp3 who are more vocal... But now with Kawhi u want to pretend Timmy was considered this great vocal leader.. Simply speaking doesn't make you a vocal leader